Holidays at the Coelhos

Wow, 2012 is already here.  2011 was such an amazing year, so many changes and so many things to be thankful for.  I graduated from nursing school, moved to California, became an official "registered nurse", got a job, Josh got back from his deployment, we bought a house and best of all, we got married!!  Looking back on it all I can't believe all that happened in just a year.   Its been such a happy happy year!  And I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be just as fabulous. 

After the wedding and the honeymoon, the holidays kind of creeped up on Josh and I.  Before we knew it, it was Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I was especially excited for this holiday season.  First of all, it was our first holiday season as newlyweds and second, Josh will be deployed during next holiday season so I wanted to be sure to make this one extra special and enjoy every moment of it.

Thanksgiving meant lots of food and lots of family, as it should always be.  I think its one of my favorite holidays.  There isn't any pressure of buying and exchanging gifts.  It's just all about getting together with family and eating a nice homecooked meal and being thankful for all we have; that to me is just perfect.  Josh and I went to my Memama and Poppop's house for a delicious meal.  I brought along a homemade apple pie; the first pie I've ever baked might I add.  And it was a hit, absolutely delicious!

Apple Pie Before

Apple Pie After... YUM!

Poppop carving the turkey

For Christmas Josh and I decided to host a Christmas dinner at our house for my parents and his parents.  I've always wanted to host a nice dinner, but I was a bit nervous about it.  I've never cooked a ham before and I've never even really cooked a big holiday dinner for a group of people.  So to get prepared, I planned out the timing of the ham and all the side dishes, what dishes I would use and what food items I needed to buy.  I had lists galore.  The first step was to decorate the house.  Being newlyweds we literally don't have any Christmas decorations... no tree, no wreath, not even a proper Christmas CD.  Luckily my mom has been buying my sister and I a Christmas ornament each year since we were little so Josh and I were stocked with all my Christmas ornaments from years past.  I'm so glad she did this because I felt like I had a piece of my old home now in my new home.  Josh and I also bought and decorated our first Christmas tree and got a few other key decorations.  It was really special to have Christmas and decorate our home

Decorating our first Christmas tree

Who knew it took to much time and effort to put on a dinner.  I was tempted on more than one occasion to buy a precooked Honeybaked Ham dinner, especially since Josh and I both worked the night shift on Christmas Eve.  He was patrolling the base and I was hard at work at the hospital.  We were both exhausted Christmas morning.  Our plan was to take a nap and then start cooking for the dinner, but that did NOT happen.  Instead, we stayed up, didn't sleep and starting prepping early for the dinner.  It was exhausting but having both sets of parents with us in our new home was so special and made every bit of preparation worth it.  Next year will be lonely without Josh, but having these holidays together meant so much.